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Transcript of The Warriors Series

by Erin Hunter The series first began when HarperCollins asked Vicky Holmes to write a fantasy series about feral cats. Initially, Holmes was not very enthusiastic, since she "couldn't imagine coming up with enough ideas". She worked with the concept, however, expanding the storyline with elements of war, politics, revenge, doomed love, and religious conflict.[28] Although the original plan was a stand-alone novel, enough material was created for several books, and the publisher decided upon a six volume series.[28] The first volume, Into the Wild, was written by Kate Cary, under the pseudonym "Erin Hunter", and was completed in about three months.[29] Holmes then began to work behind the scenes, editing and supervising details.Cherith Baldry joined the Erins to write the third book, Forest of Secrets. The First Arc The Books Book One: Into the Wild Into the Wild follows the integration of a house cat called Rusty into a group of feral cats living in a fictional forest inspired by the real world locales of New Forest,[5] the woods about Loch Lomond and the Scottish Highlands.[16][17] The group of cats are called ThunderClan, and share the fictional forest with three other groups of feral cats called RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan.The novel opens with a prologue that follows a battle between ThunderClan and RiverClan over a strip of land. ThunderClan is outnumbered and their deputy, Redtail, calls a retreat. Rusty has yet to appear in the novel, but a veiled reference is made to him in a prophecy ThunderClan receives from the spirits of their ancestors: "Fire alone can save our Clan."Following the prologue, Rusty makes his appearance in the plot. He accepts an invitation to join ThunderClan and trains to become a warrior under a new name, Firepaw, inspired by his flame-colored pelt. He learns Tigerclaw, an ambitious member of the Clan, murdered Redtail, and will stop at nothing to attain his goal of becoming Clan leader. Tigerclaw realizes Firepaw knows his secret, but he remains a trusted member of the Clan. In a battle against a rival Clan, Firepaw acts with courage and bravery, and receives his warrior name, Fireheart, in acknowledgement. Origins and Inspirations In the Warriors series, there are four Clans of cats that live in the forest: ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan. StarClan is a group made up of the Clans' spiritual ancestors who give guidance to the Clans. In the past, SkyClan was a fifth Clan that was driven out , as their territory was destroyed by humans building a town, but Firestar revives it in Firestar's Quest. Each Clan lives in their own territory, which they defend and hunt in. Each Clan has their own prey and special skills which suit their territory's terrain. As well, BloodClan is a group of stray city cats; however, they are not considered to be a true Clan, as they do not believe in StarClan.After death, most of the spirits of Clan cats join StarClan. StarClan is said to be represented by the Milky Way (Silverpelt), and each individual star represents a single dead warrior. Upon joining StarClan, the cats' spirits take the form in which they were most happy while living (i.e. blindness and deafness can be cured). StarClan warriors keep watch over the Clans, usually watching the Clan they formerly lived in. They provide guidance to the Clans, often through dreams and other signs or omens. Often, this occurs when medicine cats go to the Moonstone/Moonpool. In an author chat, Holmes said that StarClan can "just get glimpses of" the future, which they occasionally pass on.Cats who have caused great pain and suffering to others during their lives go to a place called The Place of No Stars, which is also known as the Dark Forest. Cats known to walk the Dark Forest include Tigerstar, Thistleclaw, Hawkfrost, Brokenstar, Darkstripe, Hawkheart, Shredtail, Snowtuft, Mapleshade, Sparrowfeather and Clawface.The Clans' origin has been described in Secrets of the Clans. It stated that there were originally many small groups of wild cats who lived in the forest. Without a code of honor to follow or ancestors to provide guidance, they constantly fought for food and territory. One night at Fourtrees, a large battle occurred and many cats died. The spirits of the cats killed in battle returned and told the remaining cats to "unite or die." Thus, five cats, Thunder, River, Shadow, Wind, and Sky, came forward to become the leaders of the first Clans, ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and SkyClan. The dead spirits became StarClan, and slowly, the code of honor that the cats follow was created (as described in Code of the Clans).Beyond the Clans' territories lies a mountain range, inhabited by the Tribe of Rushing Water. The Tribe is shown to be similar to the Clans, yet it follows a different set of ancestors: the Tribe of Endless Hunting. The Tribe has a Healer, cave-guards, and prey-hunters, who each serve a different function in the Tribe. The Healer leads the Tribe and acts as a medicine cat, the cave-guards defend the Tribe, and the prey-hunters hunt for the Tribe. Setting and Characters Book Two: Fire and Ice Fire and Ice begins with Fireheart and Graystripe performing a traditional silent vigil after their promotion to warrior status in Into the Wild. As their first task as warriors, Fireheart and Graystripe are assigned to find and bring back WindClan, which had been driven out by ShadowClan, and bring them home. They succeed, finding WindClan under a tangle of Thunderpaths (probably a highway interchange), and bring them home.Soon after, Bluestar apprentices Cinderpaw to Fireheart, and Brackenpaw to Graystripe. During a hunting patrol, Graystripe almost drowns after chasing a vole onto thin ice, falling in the river separating RiverClan and ThunderClan, but is rescued by Silverstream, a RiverClan warrior. Graystripe and Silverstream fall in love; however, this is against the warrior code, a code of honor that all warriors must follow. Fireheart discovers their relationship, and unsuccessfully attempts to discourage them from seeing each other. Graystripe finally agrees to meet Silverstream only at the full moon at the Gathering, when the four Clans meet to share news. Fireheart, later realizes that Graystripe has not been keeping his promise. Because Graystripe is often gone to see Silverstream, Fireheart takes over training of Brackenpaw, as well as training his own apprentice.Tigerstar, in his ambition to become leader, sets a trap for Bluestar by the Thunderpath (road), intending to kill her, thus bringing him closer to becoming leader. Instead, Cinderpaw is crippled by the trap. Her leg is broken, and when it heals, she has a permanent limp, preventing her from becoming a warrior. She then trains under Yellowfang to become a medicine cat.Fireheart is reunited with his sister, Princess, a kittypet living in the human town. Princess gives Fireheart her oldest kit, Cloud, to take into the Clan as a new apprentice. Although Fireheart agrees to accept the kit, his Clanmates, with the exception of Frostfur and Graystripe, are reluctant to accept him because of his kittypet blood. Bluestar allows him to stay, and Brindleface becomes his foster mother.Later, ThunderClan becomes involved in a fight against RiverClan and ShadowClan, and WindClan allies themselves with ThunderClan. Graystripe only attacks ShadowClan warriors, afraid to hurt RiverClan cats in case they were friends of Silverstream. Silverstream mistakenly attacks Fireheart but releases him; he attacks her but sees Graystripe's look of dismay, and releases her. Darkstripe witnesses the event and reports it to Tigerclaw. When Fireheart is later attacked by Leopardfur, the RiverClan deputy, Tigerclaw watches as Leopardfur and Fireheart fight, and does not attempt to help Fireheart. Consequently, Fireheart becomes certain that Tigerclaw is not to be trusted.